Spumador: Priority to flexibility

Spumador, an Italian company specializing in mineral water and fizzy soft drinks, wanted to improve the efficiency and safety of its production process. To help achieve this, it opted for SMILE, Markem-Imaje's all-inclusive service program.

Spumador, an Italian company founded in 1888, is the creator of "Spuma", the legendary traditional lemonade. Over the years, it has expanded its range to include mineral waters and fruit juices. In 2011, the company, whose customers include both private individuals, bars and retailers joined the Refresco group, the leading European producer of soft drinks and fruit juices. The company's priorities have always been product quality and safety for both consumers and other brands that expect high-standard products. Reflecting this commitment, in 2000, it set up a sterile bottling process with rigorous daily controls and advanced bacteriological analyses. In line with its priorities, in 2012, Spumador decided to equip all the lines at its five production sites with "green" inkjet printers, which use MEK-free ink, with the intention of reducing VOC emissions. The stakes for Spumador are twofold: find high-output equipment capable of keeping pace with the production rate of their bottling machines, and ensure good legibility and excellent printing quality of codes in order to guarantee the traceability of production batches.

The solution

To meet these exacting specifications, Markem-Imaje suggested SMILE, an all-inclusive, versatile, flexible and exclusive contract. Based on the principle of equipment rental, SMILE allows Spumador to control its spending thanks to fixed monthly payments. The company is also guaranteed to have access to the most recent coding equipment, corresponding to its requirements at any given time, as well as comprehensive support, training and consumable delivery at an agreed schedule. In terms of equipment, 9232S inkjet printers were chosen for their speed and capacity to print on a range of surfaces including, glass, PET, cardboard boxes and caps.

The result

Reduced costs, assistance, flexibility… The advantages offered by the SMILE contract are numerous. The monthly payments have proved to be lower than the total cost of maintaining the previous machine fleet and purchasing the associated consumables. Other benefits have also won over Spumador, such as the use of latest-generation printers perfectly adapted to the production output, the very low additive consumption and the supply of MEK-free ink guaranteeing product safety. Cleaning operations are also less frequent, significantly reducing stoppage times. Finally, Markem-Imaje's sales teams have shown themselves to be attentive to the needs of Spumador, which greatly appreciates its expertise and availability. In fact the company is so satisfied that it now has a total of thirty new 9232S printers installed across its various sites.

9028: Simple and smart!

GS1-128: Tracking and tracing down the supply chain

Increasingly, major retail and foodservice outlets are pressing suppliers to use the GS1-128 international coding standard to automate depot management. Offering various technical solutions, Markem-Imaje is providing industrialists with the means to adapt to these new requirements.

Although no law requires the GS1-128 standard to be respected, major retail and foodservice outlets highly recommend its implementation to automate management of depots and flow of goods. Beyond supply chain optimization, the standard guarantees traceability for each product, a measure which is now essential in the wake of recent health scandals. Pressed by groups such as Tesco and M&S, automation has taken off in the UK, is growing in France with the explosion of drive-throughs and should become generalized in the US in 2015. The main sectors concerned are the food, beverage and cosmetics industries.

A solution for every case

Based on stringent specifications - position on packaging, content described by a GS1-128 barcode, SSCC, grade C readability or better etc. - GS1-128 helps identify supply chain units in standardized fashion (pallets, packs, wrapping films). The challenge for industrialists is to implement solutions which respect these various requirements while minimizing investment costs that cannot be passed on by industrialists to distributors via invoicing.

First solution: direct printing on packs using the 5800 inkjet coder. Barcodes are 100% readable and Touch Dry® inks used are solvent-free and instantly dry. Second solution: printing and applying labels using a 2200 system that can print up to 125 packs/min and 120 pallets/hr - an ideal solution for wrapping films. Various applicators are proposed to meet different needs, including the brand new High Speed Flex, featuring innovative and reliable electric technology which makes it possible to apply a label at high speed on the front of a pack without swiveling.